…and promptly ran to the wrong auction house door in Stormwind. Ahh, good times.

So it turns out that good ol’ Tawyn– the first character I ever rolled in this game– has got all sorts of fun stuff in her bags. Like Dartol’s Rod of Transformation. The original, not the toy! Also Blazing Signet, which I have literally been carrying around since Burning Crusade. I should probably get around to finishing that quest, huh?

So, tell me, my friends. What sort of junk do you have stowed away in the bags (or banks) of old characters?

My first tentative forays into World of Warcraft were on RP servers. It started out that way simply because that’s where my friends were playing, but as I continued to play and began to explore and branch out to other servers, I quickly realized that, no, there really was something different and special about RP servers. Even if people weren’t actually roleplaying, you were more likely to run into people who had put at least a little bit of thought into their character, and since that’s how I usually play the game as well, it was nice to be among like-minded folks.

Have I mentioned that I’m kind of a lore nerd?

Then, one day, one particular friend invited me to make a character on his server. It was a PvP server, and I tell you what, I was not a fan. I tried to play on it, I really did, but I was being ganked by max level characters left and right and most of them had terrible borderline offensive names and it just all felt pointless. So I decided to transfer my character away.

Originally I was going to head to a normal RP server. But then something made me stop and think. What if it wasn’t actually the PvP that was bothering me? Afterall, I was that person who would happily spend hours and hours in Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin. What if it was actually just the lack of those two little letters “RP”?

So I decided I would give PvP servers one more chance, but this time, I’d throw an RP-based community into the mix as well. So I did a little bit of research, browsed around on the official forums, found a server that sounded good called The Venture Co., and off I went.

To this day I remember logging into my new server– I was in Thunder Bluff– and immediately feeling that things were different. Trade chat was different. The people around me were different. It was as though the virtual air itself was different.

That was eight years ago. And I’m still here.

It’s difficult to explain what is special about RP-PvP servers. To be sure, the ganking is still there, but it feels different. It’s less pointless. Why? Because a lot of these people are, in fact, roleplaying. It was very common, back in the day, to have a guild “claim” a section of land and guard it. Usually there were all sorts of in-character motivations for this as well. Actually I can confirm that this still happens because my baby Paladin was killed yesterday for getting too close to Alliance lands (not until she had actually begun to cause trouble, mind.) For some people this won’t matter — they will either love or hate the world PvP. As for me, I like it. Sure, I may be dead, but it’s immersive, damnit! It adds an extra layer of depth to roleplay and character backstory.

Pic of Cayrel being cute and shiny about ten minutes before her untimely death.

Another thing I’ve found about these servers is that, I think more than any other server type, we kind of stick together. There are so many PvE and PvP servers that most people probably couldn’t name even a fraction of them off the top of their heads. RP servers are more rare, but there are still enough of them that you have certain divides (largely revolving around whether someone is on Moon Guard, Wyrmrest Accord, or one of those others that most people fail to remember.)

But there are a grand total of six RP-PvP servers in the US. And thanks to realm zoning, all six servers now interact with each other on what’s kind of one big happy (and gank-happy) RP-PvP server. VeCo long ago got merged with Lightninghoof and Maelstrom, so those are the people I mostly interact with in Draenor, but when I’m out in Azeroth I’ve certainly seen people from the other three servers– especially people from that most infamous of servers, Emerald Dream, which is the current World PvP hotspot.

It feels neat to me, somehow, that there aren’t many of us. Those of us weird enough to want RP in our PvP, and vice versa, had to be corralled into our own handful of special servers and now we’re all merged together. Being weird together. I guess I just think it’s neat.

I just happened to be in the area yesterday farming tin ore and Tarren Mill was under attack. So I saved it! Just like old times.

So yeah. That’s my (long and rambling) story and I’m stickin’ to it. To paraphrase a blue cartoon alien: this is my server. I found it all on my own. It’s little, but good. Yeah… still good!

So if you’ve spent any time in Tanaan, you’ve probably noticed that there are a ton of super cool glowy green wolves hanging around. You’ve also probably noticed that they are classed as Aberrations, not beasts, which means that not only can we not track them, but we also can’t tame them.

…not the normal way, anyway.

You see, way down south there is an Eredar NPC called Fel Rangari Anaara and she drops an item that lets you tame one of those cool glowy wolves. There is, of course, a catch. The catch is that she is hunter-only– any other classes that try to kill her (or help you kill her) will be almost instantly destroyed– and you’re going to have to pull almost every skill you’ve got out of your toolbox in order to do her in.

So how do you do it? Here’s how.

First, clear the area of as many trash mobs as you possibly can so you don’t aggro them during the encounter.

Next, begin the encounter. I popped Stampede right away for immediate burst and then proceeded to begin slowly working her down. There are a couple of important tips and tricks to be aware of during this encounter, namely:

KEEP MOVING, because she will throw Bads at you that WILL do serious damage to you if you stand in them. Having Aspect of the Cheetah on (with the glyph that removes the daze effect) is a big help.

Every so often she gains a buff that does serious damage to your pet. Keep an eye on her active buffs and use Tranquilizing Shot to remove this as soon as possible.

She will use Soothe Pet on occasion to knock your pet out of action. Use Master’s Call or Bestial Wrath (if you are BM) to wake your pet up. You can kite her a bit with Concussive Shot if these moves are on cooldown.

She will cast a heal on herself two or three times during the fight. Interrupt this with Counter Shot immediately or she heals back up to 100%. Which is a big pain in the tushie.

She goes invisible every so often; use Flare to find her.

Be very careful with AOEs like Barrage because it’s very easy to aggro nearby mobs like seagulls and whatnot. (You can see in the above screenshot that I did just that and had to trap it to get it out of the way.)

Keep Mend Pet up constantly

You can also take advantage of garrison followers, items like Mecha-Blast Rocket, and that one move that calls a bunch of garrison grunts to fight for you.

This encounter will probably take you a couple of tries to get the hang of movement, her abilities, and the rhythm of the fight. Don’t be afraid to use a flask, use the nearby http://www.wowhead.com/object=241626/sand-encrusted-egg, and pop a food buff. If you flub up, feign death and try again.

I have this problem and the problem is that I can’t not like timewalking. I just have this big ol’ smile on my face while doing it. I did Arcatraz yesterday and the group sucked and there were a couple of wipes (yes, in 2015) and I didn’t even care; I didn’t even care one bit because it brought me back.

I love it. I love it so much. Best thing Blizzard has done in forever. And according to MMO-Champion they’re planning on adding even more old instances! I don’t care about Cataclysm dungeons but I DO care about the other TBC and Wrath dungeons. Yes, Blizzard. Yesssss. Give them to me. I want all of them.